Hello, I'm sailing to Colombia, well I say sailing. I'm tagging along on a friends sailboat that is destined for Colombia from Japan. Does anyone know what the usual procedure is with visas when you enter a country by sea? There may be a good chance that we won't enter in through a major port so I doubt there will be any immigration to stamp passports etc. Does anyone know what happens in these cases, or had similar experiences in other countries?

No matter whether you arrive by plane or boat, or train, or bus, you must enter the country in a city/town that is a port of entry and has an immigration and customs office. Nobody on their boat can just sail into any city or town of a country and say "I'm he-e-e-ere!"

Your friends will have to learn the ports of entry. The crew of the boat should contact the Colombian consulate or embassy to determine if any of them are a nationality that must obtain a visa before arriving in Colombia. Years ago French nationals had to obtain a visa beforehand. Friends who sailed into Colombia without a visa were given 4 hours to leave the country!

Your friends are sailing from Japan to Colombia? I assume that they will be stopping at a lot of places before they arrive in Colombia - that's a very, very long distance and a really, really hard sail.

__________________In 1986 we went cruising for a few years. After 20 years and 50+ countries and several oceans, we are STILL "cruising for a few years".